I’m sorry to hear about your grandad. This was a very thought provoking read for me (and also gave me a mild existential crisis because I’ve never thought about legacy in this much depth). I’ll probably circle back to this at some point. But very well written.
legacy mostly makes sense if you believe you have hard free will (simulate a million universes with exact same state of every particle and in each you are able to make a different decision at a given point - meaning you are the full free maker of your decisions); then yeah makes perfect sense to slap your name on the history leaderboards as you brush shoulders with other free agents
but if you see how much (if not all) of what we do, is either causality or randomness; then who or what is having a legacy?
this doesnt mean fatalism or nihilism is the way, doing great things is amazing in itself even if we fail, very much like what you say about writing; sometimes we win sometimes we learn, who's to say whats better
i like to think of this 'problem' under the same lens as i do the importance of practice. at the end of the day, things out of my control will contribute to most of the success or failure i am able to achieve in life. even my ability to be disciplined and concentrate on problem solving is out of my hands. if i cannot control my next thought, how can i credit myself for genius? but turning up each day and practicing is all i can do to better myself. i would rather do this than question whether it is me improving, or whether it is a worthwhile pursuit at all due to lack of free will
i believe all this can be true, while also acknowledging my perceived effort is still worth executing on. imo a lot of ppl lean on lack of free will and nihilism to justify inaction. if you can view the world that way and be inspired to get shit done anyway, then i see no issue with doing so. for me i prefer to lean into that view when times are difficult, and believe that i matter during the good times. i would like some credit while also being self-aware that many things out of my control are to be thanked for any success. everything is perspective and i don't mind being somewhat selective with my perspective
i don’t think it’s crazy. it’s a nice way to live and i never gave it a thought until recently, now it’s something i ponder about more and more. thanks for reading!
I’m sorry to hear about your grandad. This was a very thought provoking read for me (and also gave me a mild existential crisis because I’ve never thought about legacy in this much depth). I’ll probably circle back to this at some point. But very well written.
legacy mostly makes sense if you believe you have hard free will (simulate a million universes with exact same state of every particle and in each you are able to make a different decision at a given point - meaning you are the full free maker of your decisions); then yeah makes perfect sense to slap your name on the history leaderboards as you brush shoulders with other free agents
but if you see how much (if not all) of what we do, is either causality or randomness; then who or what is having a legacy?
this doesnt mean fatalism or nihilism is the way, doing great things is amazing in itself even if we fail, very much like what you say about writing; sometimes we win sometimes we learn, who's to say whats better
i like to think of this 'problem' under the same lens as i do the importance of practice. at the end of the day, things out of my control will contribute to most of the success or failure i am able to achieve in life. even my ability to be disciplined and concentrate on problem solving is out of my hands. if i cannot control my next thought, how can i credit myself for genius? but turning up each day and practicing is all i can do to better myself. i would rather do this than question whether it is me improving, or whether it is a worthwhile pursuit at all due to lack of free will
i believe all this can be true, while also acknowledging my perceived effort is still worth executing on. imo a lot of ppl lean on lack of free will and nihilism to justify inaction. if you can view the world that way and be inspired to get shit done anyway, then i see no issue with doing so. for me i prefer to lean into that view when times are difficult, and believe that i matter during the good times. i would like some credit while also being self-aware that many things out of my control are to be thanked for any success. everything is perspective and i don't mind being somewhat selective with my perspective
Is it crazy I’ve never thought about legacy? Very thought provoking read for me.
i don’t think it’s crazy. it’s a nice way to live and i never gave it a thought until recently, now it’s something i ponder about more and more. thanks for reading!
Loved your essay, so true.
Had to like for mentioning rome, such a good show